Cost Benefit Analysis of Buying/Not Buying the Prius

[sdstratton]

I continue to see cost-benefit analyses of buying (or not) a Prius. The benefits are typically stated as cost savings, green machine, and quality. The Prius costs are typically stated as a car that is more expensive to buy than a comparable standard engine car like the Prism.

Seems to me that the cost argument is clear...the Prius is more expensive than a comparable standard car of the same class. But, and this is a big BUT, my experience has been that those of us who are buying the Prius are trading in far more expensive and bigger cars to make that purchase.

My financial manager, for example, traded in his BMW 700 for a Prius. I think we can all agree that the Prius costs will be less than that gas guggling behemoth. My wife, for another example, traded in her Lexus 300 for our Prius. So instead of $800 per maintenance visit, she now pays $500 per visit...with far fewer visits at that. :P

Bottom line, I think analysts who think the "comparable" standard car is the basis for analyzing comparative costs are overlooking the possibility that most new Prius buyers are actually trading in big gas guzzling, non-green cars when we make that purchase. In which case, the "more expensive" argument flies out the window.

[Canuck]

Forgive me for asking but what is the year of your wife's Prius and what sort of maintance caused the $500 bill per visit?

[LisaMurray]

For me, it seems to be a favorable cost/benefit. I'm trading in a Honda Pilot, which gets about 19 mpg. Based on my remaining payments, trade-in value, and balance financed, my monthly payments will be about the same. The insurance increase is about $50/year. So I would say that the gas savings will definitely put me in a favorable cash flow, especially since I will be starting a new job soon that will have me commuting 100 miles/day ukeleft: .

Edit: After posting this, I found an interesting web site, www.fueleconomy.gov (sponsored by the US Dept of Energy) where you can enter your year, make, and model and you'll get various statistics on gas consumption. In comparing my 2003 Pilot to the 2005 Prius, there figures show that I stand to save $1100 a year (at current prices) in gas. Yea, I'd say that's a favorable cost benefit!

[tim_in_jax]

I have always had a problem with analyst who make the Prius-to-NonPrius comparisons for the reason that the prius is "So" much more expensive. Even the dealer I bought my car at tried to talk me into getting a Max out Corrolla instead of a prius ( little did he know that I walked on the lot knowing exactly what I wanted and nothing that he said was going to change that, persistance pays off ). Even attempted to spurt numbers at me to prove how it would take years for the Prius gas mileage saving to pay off financially. With the amount of miles that I drive in a year to and from work ( around 50000) the Prius' gas savings would have recouped the $6,000 premium from not getting a Corolla. Something that thier equation misses is that even with a maxed Prism or Corolla, you will still be short features that come standard on a Prius.

[fred]

i always have a problem with the cost compaison with a "comparable" car. what car would that be??? there is no comparable car that im aware of. its the only one of its type in reality. so maybe its underpriced... let me get a little nuts for a second (most of you agree i can do that quite often) is a ferrari more expensive than a comparble car?? what comparable car??well, if thats the case why do some old "over priced copared to others" bring in over a million dollars and yes some of them do go for 10 to 20 times their original "too expensive compared to others" price. i can understand but not agree with people who arent impressed with the looks, the mileage, the power etc but i do not understand the "when compared to others" statement. whewww i think i feel better now good air in bad air out.... :wink: :wink:

[DanMan32]

The classic Prius might be comparable to a corolla, or its cousin the Geo Prism, but the 04/05 is more the size of a camry.

When you want to compare values of houses, you start with a house that closest compares, then adds or subtracts values of features that make the houses dissimilar.

[Torf]

The "Comparable Car" is the one that you would be getting if you weren't getting the Prius.

For me it would be a used 2003-04 Dodge Stratus V6.

When I ran the numbers based on my personnal driving habits, and best expectations, I found a break-even point at around $2.10 a gallon.
Above that, the Prius starts saving me money INCLUDING the purchase price.

Sure, the cars aren't perfectly comparable, but they were the two choices I had. I'd be an idiot if I didn't make any comparison.

BTW - I have a Prius #4 or order...

[Tadashi]

Technically it would be cheaper to get your $10,000 Honda Civic. You would only save about $500 a yr with a Prius so would take about 34 years to break even.

But a lot of us get the Prius more than to just save cash. The only other thing I do is a little bit of recycling (cans, bottles, cardboard, and newspapers - drop off point is near my work) for the environment so I figure this is a good way to help the environment and have a nice car (win-win situation). Personally, I went from a F250 to a Prius and my wife had an old Honda Civic (which she managed to beat into the ground so time for a new car).

[sdstratton]

Not to panic, Canuck :P ...the $500 per maintenance visit for my Prius was strictly a guesstimate. I haven't had my Prius in for repairs yet; so I have no clue, save for other Toyotas I've owned, what it will cost.

In any case, the point is that the Lexus costs half again to twice what I've experienced with Toys for repair maintenance; so I presume that will hold for the Prius as well.

[bookrats]

This has been discussed a bit over on [url=http://priuschat.com/forums/pre-prius-owner-questions-vt7415.html]this PriusChat thread -- specifically about what non-hybrid car would be "equivalent" to a Prius, ignoring the hybrid difference.

It's not easy. I liked the Camry as a comparison -- but it underlines that there are a lot of features in the base Prius (MFD, auto power windows, heated outside mirrors, etc.) that are only in the high-end Camry packages.

Maybe not so much comparing "apples and oranges", as Braeburns and Granny Smiths.